When I was young and single, flying out to Vegas for a week meant staying for as cheap as possible on a new college grad’s income. The first people I would turn to when looking for advice on Las Vegas was always my grandparents, who had made countless returns to the neon-mecca for decades.
While my grandparents were used to staying in pretty much all of the old-school casinos during their day, they always returned to the Westward Ho. I love how years later the old website is still up and running, although limited in content!
Westward Ho Casino circa 1984. Notice the Denny’s sign in the background.
Located adjacent to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, the Westward Ho remained trapped in the 1970’s, keeping a nights accommodation simple. The rooms were very basic motel style, with no frills seen in today’s mega-properties. But what would you expect for less than $75/night?
Favorite aspects that guests and locals enjoyed were the cheap eats available on the Westward Ho property. Guests could enjoy a Mega Dog (jumbo hot dog) for only $1.49. Or a 27 ounce Margarita for $0.99. Or what about an entire plate of strawberry shortcake for $1.49. The food remained a tremendous bargain for customers while drawing them into the casino in hopes of them spending a couple bucks gambling.
I unfortunately can not tie down approximately when this photo was taken. What I can tell is that the Denny’s sign no longer appears in the background. However, I can not find any documentation on when this may have occurred. For now all I know is the photo was taken at some point during the 1980’s.
I particularly used to love the affordable table limits on games such as Blackjack. I spent many late nights in this casino, just hoping to get on a lucky streak with my $100 budget. All I walked away with was this lousy postcard. 🙂
The Westward Ho Hotel and Casino officially closed their doors November 17, 2005.
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Ahhh the Ho. I used to stay at Treasure Island all the time, and we’d go up for cheap food and tables. I can’t count how many people probably got sick off that $1.49 hot dog, but the strawberry shortcake was awesome! Sad day when it closed, but Harrahs was brilliant flipping it for the Barbary Coast.
@Steve: Hmm, I knew nothing of the whole Harrah’s/Boyd deal until you mentioned it. Thanks.
Many times I passed through the doors of the Westward Ho, both as a child and as an adult.
After a day of swimming at El Morocco and games at Circus Circus, my father and I would sit together, both of us tearing into the $1.49 hot dog and shortcake, all the time while my mother shook her head in disbelief.
As an adult, I would stay at the Stardust, not only because I enjoyed their casino, but it was next to the Westward Ho and Slot-A-Fun casinos. Cheap gambling, cheap food, and great times. When the tables weren’t winning for me, I would go to those places. Westward Ho use to have about 6 rows of video poker machines, and I did many all-nighters sitting there.
The Stardust is now gone.
Westward Ho is gone.
La Concha, El Morocco, Silver City, Silver Slipper, Denny’s, Peppermill, all of it is now gone.
My parents are gone too.
I miss all of it, and even more so, I miss my parents.
Ah yes, spent many days/nights at the Westward Ho. I loved the Bloody Mary breakfast’s from the free Bloody Mary fountain.
The Ho is long gone and Slots A Fun is a shell of its old self.
Sad.
My grandfather was the head of maintenance when I was very young I can’t remember a lot of what age. I was born 1974. but I remember going to see him at work and it being a big deal. And the shrimp cocktails were so great . Steve zemlo was my grandfather’s name